Conclusion for research on Music Videos

From my research on Music videos I have learnt a lot of information on how to create an interesting video. When I was doing my research I ddi not have my idea on what I wanted to do fully developed and so I researched a wide range of music video genres and style to help me get a better understanding and concept of what I want to do. All the videos that I researched all in some shape or form related to the music and connected with the music on a certain level. I therefore will need to think how I can incorporate certain music into my video so that it works well and connects with what the audience is expecting from that kind of video. Furthermore, this connection with the music seems to be mostly done by using the Mise en Scene to your benefit. For example Michael Jacksons 'Billie Jean' does this brilliantly by creating a dark street corner to go with the dark beats and mysterious lyrics, all to create a brilliant video. In addition to this, a lot of music videos do almost turn into a short film with how they try to tell a short story. I like this idea that a story cane made through the use of images and music alone and so I may integrate this idea into my own music video.

Conclusion for Digi-Pack research

I have now finished all of my research into Digi-packs and so I will summerise here what I have learnt.

The typography used for all of the Digi-Packs is used very effectively as this is a key part of how the audience will view the product as a whole. The text is usually enlarged to some extent and is very dominant within the whole picture and so I will want to make sure that mine is large and relates well to the project as well so that I meet the codes and conventions of real media products. In addition to this, the colour scheme on each of the Digi-Packs that i have looked at are always designed to go well with the genre of music that it is in. I believe this has been done to familiarise the audience with what they are going to expect and so I will want to ensure that the colours that I choose to use on my Digi-Pack also correspond to the genre of music that is used within my music video so that I have combined both my ancillary and video texts to create a good solid overall product.

In addition to this, many of the Digi-Packs that I looked at also include large images within the framing of the Digi-Pack. I think that this gives a great effect on the overall text as it really grabs the audiences attention and intrigues people not listening to the album. This image usually creates the main tone of what the album represents and so I will need to make sure that when I am creating imagery for my Digi-Pack that I also represent the style of music that is themed around the text including the music video. Also, the spacing of the track lists are always clear and concise on the back of the Digi-pack. I will need to remember this for when I am creating my Digi-Packs as it will be crucial that it looks clear and concise so that the audience can understand the concept and themes that I am going for.

Self evaluation on work so far

We are now over 2 months into the course and so it is time to reflect on the work that I have done so far. Firstly, I would like to say that I have not worked to my full ability during the course and so has lead to me being behind in most of the coursework. I have done very minimal work in terms of planning my music video and so this has set back the time for which I can start shooting my music video. I have a vague idea of what I want to do and have created most of my storyboard which has yet to be posted on this blog. I initially created a mood board in the planning phase which helped me set goals for what I wanted to include in my video. This however has taken a downward spiral as I have now discovered that I do not really want to portray the ideas that were presented in my mood board. Furthermore, the research which is the first stage of the coursework is still yet to be fully completed. To start with I have done most of the analysis of Digi-packs and print-based album advertisements however I have not concluded what i have learnt from this nor have I analysed not nearly enough music videos. I know that this is very bad because it is a crucial part of the research process because when i have my video created i have nothing tops ay about how I used my research to portray my video. I have some posts based of secondary research such as the history of music video and also I have collected my primary research by doing a survey with multiple responses. I still need to post about how this research has helped me decide what my project will be and so this still needs to be completed. I still need to watch some more of previous student work to get a better judgement of what makes a good music video and how to get a good grade and what not to do as well. It's vital that I complete all of the research as soon as possible so that I an move onto getting the planning done and planning my shoot. For my planning I still need to create an animatic however I will need to complete my story board completely before this gets the go ahead. In terms of a script for the music video I am currently in the process of writing the lyrics for the song, which will include an overall story arc. I also need to do some more location scouting and prepare the props that will be required. I have also completed my mock up of a Digi-pack and so will need to blog this as soon as possible. I also need to post my verbal feed back that has been given to me by my teachers for example what they have said about when I need to have my scoreboard completed. Overall my time management has been terrible so far. :/

Update on Planning

With the majority of my research now complete I will now be looking ahead to plan my music video. I have already completed a mood board and have conjured up some rough ideas for my music video. One of these ideas is that I would hold up signs in front of the camera while what is being talked about is being displayed in the background. I am currently working on a storyboard for this and will hope to have this done as soon as possible. If I still believe that this idea can work then I will go ahead with it. I also


"Include enough to keep it interesting, but not so much that your video is manic. Avoid storylines that need logical progression or resolution. Simply changing locations is an easy way to add visual variety. Mix up your shots: Include some wide shots, some medium shots, and some close-ups. If you can come up with an overarching concept, great. Just remember to keep it simple."


This from Peri Pakroo will be crucial for my planning because when I create my storyboard I need to understand the various shot types that I am going to need to create an entertaining music video and so will need to think about this while in the planning process. She also suggests to keep things rather simple and so I will try to do this and not over complicate things.

Print based album advertisement research/analysis

This advertisement shows the full album cover with various hits on the album below. This gives it a very simple but effective look because people will instantly understand the Foo Fighters logo. The font of of the Foo Fighters text is in bold and very large to give that big impact effect on the audience that this is a big compilation album of their work. Furthermore, the release date of the album is in a big thick font which enables the audience to easily see when it will be released. This therefore does a very good job of advertising what this album is and when it will be available. The red Foo Fighters logo is also a common colour used within the rock music genre itself and so informs the audience that this album is a collection of their best rock hits. The positioning of the Foo Fighters logo is right in the centre of the advert and is also the most vibrant thing on the advert, drawing the audiences attention straight to that area of the advert. 

This album advertisement is very out in the open with its concept and image. It uses very bright and unique colours such as purple to draw the audience in and to make it seem like generally a very colourful album with colourful music. The font that displays the band name is very large and takes up most of the advertisement and so you can tell from this that the main name is to get the name of the band out there for people to see. The colour of the band name also contrasts with the name of the album as one is white and one is black. This could convey that they will talk about conflicting emotions within the album and therefore further sets the tone of the album for the audience.

Here the audience will immediately be drawn in to the strange image which takes up the whole advertisement. This could of been done because it is an electronic album and so could contain random music which is complied together. This means that the advertisement is explaining to the audience what the album is like. Furthermore, there are also very bright colours within the advertisement including the text of the artists themselves. This conveys to the audience that it is not a very dark album and actually is very light hearted overall. The fact that the monkey is in space may also question the audiences sense of reality and relates to some of the tracks on the album such as 'Where's your head at' where the title speaks for itself.

This print based advertisement instantly stands out as very brightly coloured and white in colour. This keeps it very simple as there are only 3 colours in the whole advertisement. White,Black and light blue. The black therefore contrasts with the rest of the advert and could infer to the audience that there is a darker side to the album. This print based album advertisements main focus is the artist 'wretch 32' as he is the dominating figure within the advertisement. He could be trying to tell the audience that the album is about him and him alone which is why nobody else is in sight. The text of the artist is also in a graffiti like font and so tells the audience that there is a gangster side to him. The album name text however is very straight forward and bold to signify that he wants to make a statement. This also features some of the artists that feature on the album in smaller text to attract the audience even more.

This print based advertisement indicates that the artist Jessie J wants to put herself out there straight away because pretty much the whole poster is covered by her face. Furthermore, the text of the artist stands out from the rest of the black colour of the poster as it is in a thick gold colour font further depicting the idea that they want to let the audience know who the artist is and that they are a flashy and bright kind of person. In addition to this, about 25% of the advert contains text which talks about the single 'Price Tag; which was an international hit and put the artist on the map. This is a very big ploy to get people to buy the album because most people liked that single and so they would then hope that the rest of the album would be like that because it is advertised as such. This si the pop genres way of advertising because they already have the benefit of all ready having hot singles to help push the sales of the albums.

Here is a print based album advertisement from an indie rock band. You can instantly tell the ambitions of the album by eh use of wild imagery by having a heart in the shape of a grenade that is bleeding. This infers that the advertisement is going for a specific target audience and that would be people into hard-core rock/ rock as a whole. This is because overall it is presenting violent imagery and so this kind of imagery is only displaced on rock albums really. This advertisement is also kept rather simple by only having three colures total: Black, red and white. These all allude to the violent side of the album that the audience would be expecting and it is kept simple so people can just understand it and get it. The font is also very large however the artist font is slightly larger than the album title showing they want to present themselves as a large band. The colour of the font also links to the hand indicating that the hand is the band and that the grenade is the American idiot. this depicts the idea that the band are going to grab America and talk about is problems.

This print based album advertisement is of the artist Ed Sheeran who is mainly a soul song writer who uses soft guitar chords within his songs. I think that this is depicted very well within this advertisement because it uses very warm feeling colours and just has a sense of joy about it with an undertone of sadness. The only image in the poster is of the artist himself who further helps bring these warm feelings together with a slight smile but seems hesitant at the same time. This advert is also interesting in the fact that it only subtly indicates what the album is called by putting a small plus sign in the middle of the advertisement. This relates to the subtle undertones of the genre itself and so relates to the album on a good level. This proves to be different to other genres that advertise as the audience itself never clearly get told what album to buy. On the other hand, this could of been done just because it proves how big of an album it is that people know what it is already.

This album advertisement is for a slightly psychedelic rock genre and so this is represented within the advert. For example the bright mixture of colours gives off the idea that the album is bright in tone and so implants this idea into the audiences head. Furthermore, the artists name is in the very middle of the poster and so I realise that this is a recurring theme for many of the posters that I have analysed and so this gives me something to think about when creating my own advertisement. The album then takes a more serious tone on the bottom half as it talks about the release date and so on. This makes the release date and how you can get the album easy to see and so does very well at advertising to the audience. The font for the artist is also very different from the rest making it seem like the artist stands out from the normal advertising. This also leaves an impression on the audience because it implants the artists name into there head.

Here the Stone Roses use a very artsy kind of advertisement for their album. It contains lots of wacky colours being thrown around like paint to indicate the craziness of the album. The font of the artists is in thick black and bold as if they are making a statement about who they are. It is also the same font as the name of the album however they are on opposite sides of the advertisement with the whacky colours splitting them apart. This could be telling the audience that this album is not the same kind of rocky music they are used to and instead they go for something quite alternative and unique. On the other hand, the positioning of the text 'The Stone Roses' is outside of the mess going on in the middle which suggests that they are out of that mess and it was only used to grab the audiences attention in the first place.

Mylo Xylto is an alternative rock album produced by Coldplay. This album cover straight away implys that this is a very happy album because of all the wild bright colours that are used. Furthermore, these colours are very eye catching to any audience and will make people look at it at least for a bit. The title of the album is presented in a very different way in comparison to the other album adverts that I have looked at. It is in a very large font covering most of the advert and also is just an outline of letters making it seem almost transparent in comparison to the rest of the colourful advert. This is a great example of using visuals to catch the eye of the audience and therefore is marketed very well. On the other hand, this may only be done to fit with the themes within the album and so if someone purchases this then they will be pleased with what they were expecting in the album. Theres also a bright explosion behind the title of the album and so this indicates the destrucitve nature of the album and how they may explore themes of destruction.

Questionare Survey (Primary research)

I have created a detailed survey which should give me good primary research to help me identify my target audience and what kind of video I should aim to make. This is vital research because if there was no audience for music videos then they would not be what they are today. This leads to the fact that most music videos these days aim to please a certain target audience and for propaganda purposes. Below are screenshots from the results of my survey. 

This helps me grasp the idea of what kind of audience is viewing my survey and so I know the audience that I should aim for. As you can see it is almost 50/50 and so gives me the option to aim at both audiences because both would be interested in viewing a music video for lots of different reasons that are further looked at in the survey.

This further helps me understand what kind of audience would view my video and gives me an idea as too what I should present within my video. The majority of the audience that responded is 17 and below and therefore this informs that I should try and present themes and ideas that this age demographic can relate to.

This is an interesting look at why people would watch a music video. It tells that people do enjoy watching music videos for entertainment rather than finding them uninteresting. This gives me the idea to create a music video that is interesting while also being very entertaining to people that like to watch music videos.

These results provide me with an idea of how I should be making my video and what people are looking for. This creates a challenge for me because a majority of the people selected that they watch a music video for the artist which in my case is not going to happen as I would not have famous people in my video. This will force me to possibly work within a genre that people appreciate and understand so that they would still like to watch it.

This is where I choose the genre that I work in. Clearly there are three genres that are most appealing to the audience. Pop, R&B and Rock offer a variety of different options that I could choose to work within because from my music video research I understand that different genres have different styles and so this gives me a lot to think about. Jazz/Country were not very popular choices however I could always choose to work within a niche market.

People feel very divided on this question. This might be because some people do not bother to relate to the lyrics and so music video directors tend to take a broader view on what they can portray instead of sticking to the lyrics of the song. However some music videos to relate to the song and I believe that this is the best way to go as it creates this kind of relatable atmosphere.

This question adds more depth to the previous one as it tells me what people would like to see specifically. A music video with a storyline appears to be the most popular choice and this may be because they can be a lot more interesting and relatable than the options available. Strong imagery can also be incorporated into a storyline based music video so I will need to think about what I would I should do. 

People seem to think that a music video definitely does not take away from a song and therefore can do no damage to a song. The division of neither and add may be because some videos do not have as much an impact on people as others do. This tells me that I should really try to add something important or emotional to my music video to ensure that it adds to the song to create something that sticks with people. 

This suggests to me that it seems to depend on whether the audience likes the video or not. From my Music video research all music videos today are still done very well and so are ones from the past so I would suggest that some music videos are made by very good directors. I just need to ensure that my video is made to the best of my ability.

I was expecting promotional purposes to be the majority myself because I fell like almost every popular song, no, in fact every popular song has a music video which adds to the fact that they are just trying to promote the artist. This tells me that I should not try and go for a popular music genre market as I do not have the popular artists available. I will therefore go for something that create visual imagery as this was also in high demand from the survey results. 

Regulations and Restrictions

Regulations and Restrictions

To create my music video I will need to adhere to a lot of different restricitons as this is a natural part of the production process. So to prepare for them I will identify what may be a restriction and then see how I can work around these restrictions so that they do not affect my time management or my music video as a whole. 

List of regulations and restrictions:

Obviously I wont be able to get permisson from any mainstream artists and so will look to try and create a music video based for a smaller market because of the unsigned artists and music that will be available to me. There are many websites that I can use and I believe the main oen is Royaty Free music which has tones of music which is copyright free to download. 

I also wont be able to get much footage from actual artists because the only way this would really be possible is if I actually knew who it was. I could go to festivals and get footage there but even then it would still be hard to get actual quality footage that would be usable in the video when edting. This will not matter too much anyway because of the copyright law that I need to adhere to.

In terms of equiment I do have plenty at my disposal. i have a fully working DSLR camera with memory whihc is crucial to trya nd make my video look as good as possible. Along with this I also have a decent tripod to help me get those steady shots. For the ancillary tasks I do however not own Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Flash at home and so will need to come in school to create these vital products for the course.

Obviously I also do not have a massive budget for this product and s will need to location scout properly to find locations that are suitably for filming on a low budget. this is way i think it may be crucial to try and film a lot of the video within close proximity of where I live so that re-shoots and so on will be much easier to do.